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Need a quick response on this! Our listing, house rules and the check-in message we send guests clearly state there is NO access to the kitchen or main bedroom. Guests only book our spare room and have use of the bathroom.
I went to our listing this morning (we have long-term tenants arriving on Monday so wanted to remove some small items) and there were people sleeping on our couch in the living room and stuff strewn everywhere. Like, all over the kitchen and living room and in our main bedroom. It was a tip!
I want the guest to leave. I feel our space has been violated, I don’t trust her and ultimately, it’s just super disrespectful. I’ve contacted Airbnb but they’re taking forever to have a case manager call me back.
Can I just kick her out and change the reservation via the app? Would I have to refund the one night she is not staying? Would I be penalised in anyway? Would she owe anything?
Thanks in advance, I need to sort this out in the next few hours as I can’t kick her out tonight!
If you kick her out without going through Air, chances are Air might kick you out!
Never wait for an Air Case Manager to call you back. Stay on the phone and demand to speak to the nest highest level manager until someone answers your question!!!
If there isn’t access to particular accommodation within your listing, I would really recommend you lock this off so guests can’t access it.
You mention going to the listing this morning, were your guests aware that you would be coming over? as normally hosts wouldn’t enter a listing while guests were in a listing unless agreed in advance for cleaning/emergency repairs etc.
You mentioned you are already in touch with Airbnb so I would call them back and ask for their advice.
In your situation I would ask for extra costs to cover the additional guests (have you got CCTV so you know exactly how many additional guests stayed) , additional cleaning of spaces they shouldn’t have been in, i.e. the kitchen and bedroom.
I wouldn’t evict the guest until Airbnb have cancelled the booking for you. Give them a call back and stress that you need an immediate response.
This only applies to self contained LTR s where tenants have 24 hours notice. It does not apply to bed and breakfast, particularly in the host’s own home. Of course hotels pop in and make the bed etc. all the time. All a guest should expect is a knock on the door during reasonable hours.
Actually it doesn’t Jess. It also applies to Airbnb whole listings that’s why I mentioned it.
People know that hotel staff come into clean their rooms. That doesn’t mean that other hotel staff can walk into their room at any time for any reason.
Guests don’t have an expectation that hosts walk in unannounced at any time for any reason when they book a whole listing.
They have broken the rules with unregistered guests so no refund. I hope you can get through to Airbnb soon, keep trying. Make sure you have evidence on the app.
I am not sure about that. That doesn’t even apply to lodgers with agreements. It would be ridiculous if there were a problem not to be able to enter the room. Anyway I don’t think the OP needs to worry about that now. Whether it’s her home or not I am glad this can be nipped in the bud. Actually when I had an alcoholic guest Airbnb were fine with me photographing the bottle of urine he had in the room.
As I already mentioned of course if there is an emergency or a repair needs carrying out you can give notice and go over to a whole listing and sort things out.
What you can’t do is go into a premises without notice when a guest is in occupation for a reason which has nothing to do with the upkeep of the property or the guests stay - as is the case here.
Your situation is different in that you offer accommodation in your home I believe.
Hi Helsi, we hadn’t put locks on the doors as we lived there too up until a few weeks so didn’t feel there was a need but I totally agree that they’re important to have. On reflection, I wish we did!
As it’s our flat and they only booked a room, not the flat, I think it’s fine for me to go over. They weren’t meant to be in our living space and that’s the area I wanted to get some stuff from.
Good idea about the CCTV, from reading the forums this morning it seems a lot of hosts are now doing this.
Hi both, the listing is only for our guest room, not for the entire flat.
If it was the whole flat and we needed to pop in for upkeep or to get something, we’d give them some notice but probably still go over to be honest. Airbnb isn’t a hotel so I hesitate to allow guests to treat my space as one, but maybe that’s just me having never rented an entire house, just a room.
I spoke to Airbnb at 1.30pm (GMT). The case manager was helpful and understanding. Because the guest violated our rules, we can ask them to leave and do not have to give a refund. If we want to, we can give them a percentage refund. The difficulty now is, Airbnb need to contact her to tell her to leave. They asked me wait until 3pm and if they can’t get in contact with her, I don’t know what happens then? I don’t want to have to confront her.
I went back to check the flat at lunch and in fairness, her and her unwanted guest have tidied up but for me, that’s not the point. They knowingly broke the rules and were hoping to get away with it. I wouldn’t do it as an Airbnb guest so don’t see why I should put up with it as a host. Because they’ve tided, I said to offer them a 50% refund and then if she is annoyed to give the full refund. I just want her out.
Thanks for coming back and updating us. I hadn’t realised you were offering them a room in a shared listing, which they share with you, as you mentioned going over there as if it was the listing was a space the guests had to themselves.
It is so bizarre that these guests would have gone in and used your bedroom and had unregistered guests in your living room, when they knew you were sharing the space with them and could be back at any minute. I can never get over how outrageous some guests are.
I think when we decide to become a host, part of what comes with it unfortunately is having to deal with the more difficult, unpleasant aspects as well as the nicer one; getting the money, dealing with nice guests, learning about other cultures.
This does mean, hopefully rarely, you will need to be on hand to evict guests or confront them regarding damage and mess.
What did Airbnb say about you charging for the additional guests?
Good luck with the eviction and bring someone along for moral support.
To be honest it doesn’t matter whether they tidied up they had guests staying who haven’t booked and paid and they occupied and used rooms they weren’t entitled to use according to your house rules and descriptions. I wouldn’t have refunded at all and would have charged for the extra guests and cleaning.
And yes of course you can go over to fix a problem such as a broken boiler or in an emergency, but you would normally be giving notice in a whole listing scenario.
As you say as they are sharing the space with you, you are certainly entitled to be in the space whenever you want.
I heard back from Airbnb who have agreed with our guest that they will vacate by 4pm.
The reason I felt it was the right thing to do to give them a refund was because there’s some horror stories on this forum of guests overstaying their welcome and it becoming confrontational. Also, while I’m annoyed with them, they still need somewhere to stay tonight so the 50% refund will go a bit of the way towards that and allows us to meet in the middle. Of course I’ll be inspecting everything very carefully when I go to the flat to collect the bed linen and towels!
Haha now I’m thinking I’ve been far too nice! Airbnb, while helpful, didn’t push back on giving them a refund though… They just kind of accepted my suggestion. I was hoping for more advice to be honest.
Yes I have more often than not regretted being too nice. Airbnb and guests don’t necessarily think with the reasonableness and respect for others we would. Airbnb just wants to keep guests happy even if that means hammering hosts.
